A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally.

The American Express Shop Small opportunity

The American Express Shop Small campaign brings valuable and appreciated focus to small and local businesses. While I don’t have engagement data, it does feel like the campaign has built a good following among shoppers and small businesses.

Last year, American Express made changed to its fees:

We made sweeping changes to the fees we charge merchants and this fee is now between 1.5-2 per cent for an American Express card payment. Our merchant network is growing and since January 2017 over 120,000 new places joined the American Express network across Australia. We are committed to ensuring that as many places as possible welcome American Express to give our card members the best experience.

These changes make accepting American Express for payment more appealing for small businesses and thereby makes the Shop Small campaign even more interesting.

Shop Small gains attention where shoppers are – online, on mainstream media.

Their website makes it easy for shoppers to find participating businesses through a map. Amex Australia says that last year, there were 851,000 views of the map. They also say that through the money, Amex card members spent $675M in small businesses. I like this connection as it provides small businesses a way to connect and be found. Today, more than ever, there are more routes to our businesses and every single one is worth pursuing.

If you take Amex as payment I think it would be worthwhile engaging with the campaign.